Research Catalog

Title

Khubilai Khan's lost fleet : in search of a legendary armada / James Delgado.

Author

Delgado, James P.

Publication

Vancouver : Douglas & McIntyre, 2008.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xi, 225 p., [16] p. of plates : ill.; 24 cm.

Summary

After finally achieving what eluded even his grandfather Ghengis Khan - the conquest of China - and inheriting the world's largest navy, Khubilai Khan turned his sights to Japan, which he attacked with an immense armada in 1274. Vastly outnumbered and facing total massacre, the Japanese prayed to their gods for survival, and the very next day Khan's entire armada was destroyed by a 'divine wind' (kamikaze). When Khan tried again seven years later, with a fleet double the size of the first, the very same thing happened. The legend of the kamikaze - revived as a Japanese national legend as they modernised and militarised, culminating in the suicide bombers of WWII - has endured for centuries.Now, after decades of painstaking research and underwater excavation, marine archaeologist James Delgado has discovered what really happened. Based on original sources as diverse as actual sunken ships, archeological excavations on land, temple inscriptions, hand-painted scrolls, woodblock prints, and historical and literary records from China, Japan and Vietnam, "Khubilai Khan's Lost Fleet" is a captivating journey back through the mists of time. It tells the fascinating tale of the great Mongol's maritime forays, offers a compelling study of where myth, legend and history blend and blur, and solves one of history's greatest mysteries: what sank the Khan's immense fleet? -- Amazon.com.

Subject

• Kublai Khan, 1216-1294
• To 1644
• Underwater archaeology > Japan
• China > History, Naval > To 1644
• China > History > Yuan dynasty, 1260-1368
• Japan > History > Attempted Mongol Invasions, 1274-1281
• Southeast Asia > History, Naval
• China > Antiquities

Genre/Form

• History
• Naval history

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 185-195) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Timeline of Chinese, Japanese and Korean dynasties and periods -- Prologue : A divine wind -- Hakozaki -- Asian mariners -- Enter the Mongols -- Khubilai Khan -- The song -- Tsukushi -- The Bun'ei War -- The Mongols return -- Kamikaze -- Takashima -- Broken ships -- Distant seas, distant fields -- The legacy of Khubilai Khan's navy.

ISBN

• 9781553652731
• 1553652738

OCLC

• 222517012
• SCSB-12716761

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library